Creativity, Missing Link in Education System, Says Agbaje

Peace Obi

A two-time Lagos State governorship aspirant, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, has identified lack of creativity as the bane of the country’s current education system, stressing that while governments and educators strive to improve society’s literacy level, there is need for creativity to be embedded in the education.

Speaking at the eighth Total School Support/Exhibition (TOSSE) in Lagos recently, Agbaje who chaired the occasion noted that the education of the ‘new world’ demands that it be laced with creativity and capable of producing creative thinkers.

“What is missing in our education system today is creativity. Creativity is as important as literacy. We are no longer in the factory world when you are just producing children that are just going to work in the factory.
“No, it is a whole new world out there and it is about creativity. And so education today must be about producing creative thinkers, if we are not doing that for so long, then our children will be graduating with CVs that cannot get them jobs.”

Agbaje hinted that time has passed when people paraded good results devoid of some creative abilities. “Things that are creative should be things that are included in our curriculum. So, in the new world, the CVs are not going to have ‘I have a first class’. They are going to include other things such as ‘I have created a robot in my secondary school, I have painted this, I can sing this, I can do that’.

“Things that are creative will be things that will be included in tomorrow’s CV. That is the way forward and that is the only way we are going to move forward in our country and it is very important.”

While stressing that education is at the base of every form of human development, the chairman said if truly Nigeria realises this, the country would not at this stage still have high record of out-of-school children in primary and secondary schools.

“If we believe that education is the most powerful weapon to change our world, then we should not have statistics where we have every one in every three children not in primary school or one in every four not in secondary school. That we still have so many people not in the education system is creating a lot of problems for the future.”
In her remarks, the representative of the Lagos State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Titilayo Solarin, encouraged residents and corporate entities to pay their taxes so that the state’s efforts at providing quality education and the attainment of self-reliance and socio-economic development can be realised.

“Government will ensure significant improvement in teaching method, staff quality, training of teachers and introduction of computer-based instructional materials to achieve better performance outcome in all public schools in the state.”

The Managing Director, Edumark Consult, Mrs. Yinka Ogunde, urged governments to pay attention to the infrastructural needs, teacher training, teachers’ motivation, among others. According to her, no country would grow and develop without paying attention to what is happening in its education system.

“Look at teachers’ training and motivation; how can we inspire them to love what they are doing. What are the things you can do to motivate them, to encourage them and inspire them because when the teacher is inspired that teacher is encouraged to deliver the best.”